The story so far:

"I'm coming!" Dillan yelled as he slammed the basement door. The doorbell was still ringing so apparently this person was intent to get some kind of attention. He hoped it was a Jehova's Witness; they were always a hoot.

He ran through his living which looked as if it came straight out of a 1950's Sears catalogue. Stopping before the front door, he straightened the collar on his dress shirt and tucked it in. He gave himself a final check, while making sure the aluminum bat was still in the corner of the doorway, and opened the door.

"Hello, I'm Maria. I'm with the St. Dominic's Catholic school down the street and I was wondering if you have any children by chance?" the young, bright girl said while standing on his porch.

Dillan looked at her for a second dead faced, trying to contain his laughter. Then his face grew into a full, warm smile and he said, "Why yes I do. Would you like to come in?"

"Why thank you." she said as if he was the first person to actually take the time to talk to her today.

Dillan walked into the living room, still presenting the smile and waving his hand towards the couch. "My little Bobby is at school right now if you don't mind." he said as she sat down and laid a packet of papers beside her.

"Oh no, that's fine. I was wishing to speak to you anyway." she said vehemently. "St. Dominic's is giving a seminar on abstinence right now and we were simply wondering if you would be interested in taking Bobby down to hear it."

"Why yes I would!" he said walking back towards the doorway.

"Splendid." she said and started ruffling through the papers she brought. She found what she was searching for but as she looked back up, her face was intercepted by the aluminum bat. The papers flew like confetti through the air and her limp body fell to the floor. Dillan placed the bat back in the corner and headed back for Maria. He rolled her over and looked up as if God was punishing him. There was a small pool of blood on the carpet. Grabbing her by the ankles, he whispered to himself, "**** whore." He drug her to the basement door and opened it.

--------

Ben was startled by the lights suddenly turning on. The basement door creaked closed and was followed by a rhythmic 'thunk.' Then he saw Dillan coming down the steps, dragging a body.

"Hey Benny boy!" Dillan yelled. "I found you some company. And don't you just love the sound of a skull going down a flight of stairs? It always reminds me coconuts for some reason."

"Why did you take her?" Ben asked quietly, his eyes still adjusting to the light.

"The same reason I took you."

"What's that?" Ben continued.

"The reason is," Dillan said, "whatever reason I felt at the time." He dropped Maria's legs in front of the wall opposite of Ben. There was already a body hanging in the spot that he stopped at. It was badly decayed and was about to fall off by itself. Dillan grabbed the corpse by the hips and pulled. The corpse ripped off of the nails except for one arm that detached from the body. He nearly fell over pulling the body free but steadied himself. Hugging it around the waist by one arm, he said "Looks like the old bag doesn't have any life left in her, does she Benny?"

Ben gulped and breathed deeply. If he had anything in his stomach he would have thrown it up.

Dillan dumped the body on the floor and then gripping the hanging arm by the bicep, tore it from the wall. Then looking at Maria lying on the floor, he scratched his head with the arm's hand and asked, "Hey Benny. Nails or staples?"

Ben looked at him in silence and disgust.

Dillan looked at him with an agitated and impatient face. He waited for a few seconds and then huffed. He bent over and started stripping Maria of her clothes. Ben could only watch, not knowing what was going to happen next. In a few minutes, she was naked and Dillan went to a bench in the back, retrieving the staple gun. He came back over and hoisted her up against the wall.

"Sorry Benny," Dillan said, pinning her body between the wall and his, "I hope you like your women skinny because this is the only eye candy you have right now." The skin on her arm was pulled taunt and the staple gun was placed against it.

Kachunk.

Ben winced and then looked with a grimace. He asked, "Do you know anything about her?"

Kachunk.

"She's a Catholic," Dillan said continuing his work, "so if you have sex with her in your mind make sure there aren't any contraceptives involved.

Kachunk.

"What did she or I do to deserve this?" Ben asked.

Kachunk.

Dillan sighed and became agitated. "As far as I know, nothing. You can probably confess some sins to her, though, because I'm sure she's spectacular at listening."

Kachunk.

Several minutes passed and Ben's disgust almost turned to amazement. It was obvious that Dillan had done thismany times. His work was quick and almost mechanical. This wasn't the part he enjoyed; it was just the setup, the preparation. The thrills were really derived from the painting. Ben asked, through a parched throat, "Then why? Please, just tell me why?"

Dillan stepped away from the new canvas and savored a second to enjoy it. Turning towards Ben, he pulled out a cigarette and lit up. Not bothering to look at Ben he said, "I thought the reason was obvious Ben." Raising his arms, his shoulders shrugged and with a childish smile, he said, "I just enjoy nailing people to walls and painting on them. That has got to be good old wholesome family fun if there ever was any."

Ben looked up trying to hold back tears.

Dillan headed for his paints and said, "You're not nearly as rude this time and that's good. But please don't bore me, Ben. I don't have time for that crap."